Shanghai French Concession

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Shanghai French Concession Concession française de Changhaï 上海法租界
Second French Republic, Second French Empire, French Third Republic and French State
1849–1943
Flag Seal
Location of French Concession in Shanghai (red) relative to the International Settlement (yellow) and Chinese zone
Population
• 1932	478,552
History
• Established	1849
• Disestablished	1943
Preceded by Succeeded by Shanghai County Shanghai Special Municipality
Today part of	Shanghai Municipality

The Shanghai French Concession

. Despite re-development over the last few decades, the area retains a distinct character and is a popular tourist destination.

History

Establishment

The French Concession was established on 6 April 1849, when the French Consul in Shanghai,

between the Guangdong-Chaozhou Union (Koang'tong-Tchao-tcheou kong-hoan) and the mouth of the Yangjingbang canal. The French Concession effectively occupied a narrow "collar" of land around the northern end of the Old City, south of the British settlement. At an area of 66 hectares (986 mu), the French Concession was about a third of the size of the British settlement at that time. A further small strip of riverside land to the east of the Old City was added in 1861, to allow the construction of the quai de France, to service shipping between China and France.

Demography

While the French Concession began as a settlement for the French, it soon attracted residents of various nationalities.

In the 1920s, with the expansion of the French Concession, British and American merchants who worked in the International Settlement often chose to build more spacious houses in the newer part of the French Concession. One legacy of this Anglophone presence is the American College on Avenue Pétain (now Hengshan Road), and the nearby Community Church.

Shanghai saw a large influx of

churches can still be seen in the former French Concession. The Russian community had a large presence on commercial streets such as Avenue Joffre and contributed to the development of the music profession in Shanghai.

The Chinese population in the French Concession swelled during the Taiping Rebellion, reaching about 500,000 just before the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. During World War II, Japanese forces initially occupied only the Chinese areas, leaving the foreign concessions alone. Residents of the Chinese areas moved into the French Concession in large numbers, reaching 825,342.

Localities

Normandie Apartments (aka Wukang Mansion

), on Avenue Joffre

• Lokawei (Chinese: 卢家湾; pinyin: Lújiāwān), "Lu's Bay", an area named after a bend on the Zhaojiabang creek. The main police depot and prison of the French concession was located here. Former
  Huangpu District
  , was named after this locality. Since the 1990s, this area has seen high volume residential developments.
• Xuhui District
  is named after this locality.
• Avenue Joffre, now Central Huaihai Road, was a boulevard stretching across the French Concession in an east–west direction. The road was renamed after Joseph Joffre in 1916, with the new name unveiled by the marshal himself in 1922. Avenue Joffre was a tram route. Its eastern section featured Shikumen residences. Its western part featured high-end residential developments, including standalone houses and apartment blocks. The central section was – and is – a popular shopping area, with many shops opened by the Russian community. The former Avenue Joffre remains a high-end retail district.
• Avenue Pétain, now Hengshan Road, was a major boulevard linking Xujiahui with the centre of the French Concession. It represented the centre of the French Concession's high-end residential district and featured many mansions and expensive apartment buildings. Beginning in the 1990s, some of the former houses had been converted into bars and nightclubs. Although some bars remain, recent years have seen the street become more residential.

Historical buildings in the French Concession

• 
  Former site of the International Mixed Court for the French Concession
• 
  Former

  Route Paul Brunat

  fire station
• 
  Former

  Avenue Joffre

  police station
• 
  Former Garde Municipale headquarters
• 
  Former residence of Sun Yat-sen
• 
  The Cloisters, a residential building
• 
  Grosvenor House, an apartment building, now part of a hotel
• 
  Lyceum Theatre, mainly used by British residents
• 
  Former Hôpital Sainte Marie
• 
  The Shanghai Science Hall, built in 1917, formerly a French school
• 
  1937 photograph of Japanese troops entering inside the French Concession

See also

• Concessions in China
• French colonial empire
• List of French possessions and colonies
• Old City of Shanghai
• Shanghai International Settlement
• American Concession in Shanghai

References

Notes

1. ^ French: Concession française de Changhaï; Chinese: 上海法租界; pinyin: Shànghǎi Fǎ Zūjiè; Shanghainese pronunciation: Zånhae Fah Tsuka

Citations

1. ^ The commonly recorded "诸家桥" appears to be an erroneous back-translation from a French source: 城区史首在史料准确--《上海卢湾城区史》若干史料问题商榷（许洪新） Archived 18 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine

Sources

• Le Paris de l'Orient – Présence française à Shanghai, 1849–1946, ministère des Affaires étrangères français.

Further reading

• Maybon, Ch. B (1929) Histoire de la Concession Française de Changhai, Paris: Librairie Plon
• Cady, J. F. (1942), "The Beginnings of French Imperialism in the Pacific Orient", Journal of Modern History, 14 (1): 71–87,
  S2CID 143922413
• Willens, Lilane (2010). Stateless in Shanghai. China Economic Review Pub. (HK) Limited for Earnshaw Books.
  ISBN 9789881815484
  .

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Shanghai/French Concession.

• Xuhui District government portal Archived 10 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine